Take a look at how food goes from garden to plate at Wakefield's Nostell

The seemingly small space beyond the orangery, formerly dominated by 1960s’ rose bushes, has been transformed into an edible oasis by Nostell’s dedicated gardeners and volunteers.

Recent harvests have each tipped the scales at around 3.3 kilos – the equivalent weight of eight adult horses - and boasted around 130 varieties of herbs, fruit and vegetables.

18th century origins

Elaborate plans to formally landscape the Nostell Estate were drawn up nearly 300 years ago, in 1731, by garden designer and author of The Practical Fruit Gardener, Stephen Switzer.

Unfortunately for Switzer, there’s very little evidence to suggest his designs were ever liberated from the drawing board, in part due to a change in fashion towards a more natural landscaping approach.

Today’s kitchen garden gives a nod to some of Switzer’s original ambitions, in particular the young walkway of pear trees that pay tribute to his passion for fruit.

With colourful names such as Marquise, Virgouleuse and Robin, visitors to Nostell can learn about each of the species through interpretation in the gardens, as well as guided tours and events when safely allowed to resume.

Community roots

Garden and Parklands Manager Paul Dibb, who joined Nostell as a 16-year-old apprentice gardener, said: “In 2009, school children, bank staff and their families joined our gardeners and volunteers to plant 120 apple trees in a space that is now the orchard towards the back of the kitchen garden.

“The trees, all of Yorkshire varieties, were propagated at the National Trust nursery at Knightshayes as part of a community project funded by Yorkshire Clydesdale Bank.

“It was after this planting that a small vegetable bed was created to compliment the orchard and grow a modest crop for courtyard cafe.

“This then expanded into the wider garden and old, failing rose beds made way for the garden to become what is today.

“The garden has provided the opportunity for the staff, volunteers and students to develop their knowledge and skills much wider as well and share this with visitors.”

From plot to plate

The team grows heritage varieties where practical, with gardeners and cooks working closely in recent years to plan, grow and harvest seasonal produce.

This blossoming partnership has supported an array of homegrown meals and helped fill the shelves of an increasingly popular courtyard stall, where visitors can take home freshly-harvested produce in exchange for a small donation.

Working with nature

Today, the Nostell team continue to experiment with organic garden principals and gardening for nature.

Mark Westmoreland, one of the garden team, has been working towards a No Dig management of the soil.

Mark said: “Beds are regularly mulched with compost to suppress weeds and improve the soil. By doing this and keeping disruption to the soil at a minimum, beneficial soil organisms, fungi, worms all allow the solid to remain in good health and aid plants to maximise their food intake”.

Lockdown challenges

Before the pandemic hit much of the produce was already underway in the polytunnel and plans to prepare the garden begun.

Very quickly staff resources were minimised until only one of the outdoor team, Paul, remained to cover both the garden and parkland.

Paul said: “Changes were made to mowing regimes and heights of cut to reduce labour, the vegetable gardens were heavily mulched, and a thorough hoeing and edging timetable implemented.

“As most of the garden produce was underway and potato sets purchased, the kitchen garden was planted up as normal, looking positively towards reopening later in the year and not letting hard work go to waste.

“All this work proved worthy, the mulched and planted beds helped suppress weeds and provided a great source of vegetables for our returning visitors later in the year”.

Gardener David’s Top Tips for courgettes:

-Sow in April in trays and protect indoors in a poly-tunnel or similar environment

-Keep the plants indoors for three to four weeks before hardening off

-Plant out in the garden in late May, when the threat of frost has passed

-Feed with blood, fish and bone until mature.

-Once courgettes appear, cut them regularly to avoid overgrowing them into marrows.

Nostell’s Kitchen Garden Top 10

1 Rhubarb

Nostell is home to 19 different types of rhubarb Gardener David Hudson said: “Being on the edge of the famous Wakefield rhubarb

triangle, its only right that we have a hearty collection of rhubarb. A north facing wall cloaked in Morello Cherry trees provides the perfect location for the 50-metre rhubarb collection to thrive.”

2 Pears

In 2019 Nostell added a rare selection of heritage pear trees to its growing orchard after painstaking research by the garden team into original 18 th century designs. Before taking pride of place in Nostell’s growing orchard, the pear trees were nurtured by the Plant Conservation Centre, a facility within the National Trust

dedicated to preserving plants of historical or horticultural significance through various means of propagation.

3 Apples

Nostell’s apple orchard has 10 different varieties of apples. The annual yield weighs in at around 500kg – and if the apples were laid in a line they’d stretch the length of 10 cricket pitches.

In previous years Nostell has been home to apple trails, homemade recipes and various family events like the popular Apple ID Bizarre, where different varieties are identified with the help of an elaborate coding system. They are scheduled to return

next year when it’s safe to do so.

4 Pumpkins

When mornings start with a nip in the air and mellow afternoons quickly give way to twilight, Nostell’s annual pumpkin harvest is just around the corner.

The kitchen garden is home to three different types of squash and in recent years the barrowloads of seasonal produce have weighed in at around 430kg - the same

as 1,000 cans of soup or a grand piano.

Visitors have previously enjoyed themed walks and courtyard pumpkin displays in celebration of this traditional autumn vegetable.

5 Potatoes

This year, in celebration of the kitchen garden’s 10th birthday – Gardeners Mark and David are having a spot of friendly competition when it comes to potato-growing: traditional ‘earthing up’ vs newspaper compost.

David said: “We’ll be providing updates during the summer and will of course announce who claims victory with the best spud showing at harvest time”

6 Onions

The kitchen garden has in recent years produced an eye-watering 100kilos of onions. A firm favourite among visitors is the giant onion variety.

7 Bananas

With a nod towards the Banana House which Nostell once housed within its grounds the garden now has more than a dozen banana palms, flanked by an army of similarly eccentric artichokes, which have been thriving for several years now in the exotic climes of West Yorkshire.

More commonly seen in Japan, the banana plants are more than 10ft tall and tower over more familiar berry fruits.

Some of the palms’ immediate neighbours – gigantic artichokes – have also broken with convention in Nostell’s mini microclimate and mutated into a very spiky version of the huge deep purple variety.

8 Root vegetables

Carrots, parsnip, cabbage, cauliflower, and various other root crops compliment the crop rotation of the garden. All providing good produce for a hearty winter meal.

9 Herbs

Chives, Basil, Bay and other traditional herbs border the central salad bed of lettuce, cucumber and tomato plants.

10 Courgettes

The garden’s Lemona and Tuscan courgette varieties, along with homegrown potatoes, onion and garlic taste delicious in a nourishing soup, accompanied by a little stilton and dash of salt and pepper.

How to make Creamy Courgette and Stilton Soup: Chef Bev’s top tips from the courtyard tearoom

Ingredients (Makes 10 large portions)

25ml Vegetable oil

750g onions, peeled and chopped

Half bulb garlic, peeled and chopped

1.25kg courgettes, sliced.

625g potatoes, peeled and chopped

100g Stilton cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Place the oil in a large plan and leave to heat up before adding the onions and garlic.

2. Reduce the heat and leave to sauté until softened, for about 10 minutes.

3. Add the courgettes and potatoes and stir well, before adding water to cover the vegetables and bringing to the boil. Cook until soft.

4. Blend the soup with a stick blender until smooth, add half the Stilton and blend again until creamy.

5. Crumble the remaining Stilton into the soup and stir, seasoning with salt and pepper.

PICTURES: SCOTT MERRYLEES